Calatrava inspires the mothership in ABC's Sci-Fi drama "V"

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An art museum director from another city, who will remain nameless, years ago once said this of Santiago Calatrava: You can look at his structures in one moment and see something beautiful and poetic, while in the next, with even a subtle shift of mood or perspective, you seem to be gazing upon "Darth Vadar's summer home." I will never forget that, in part, because it had the powerful ring of truth. He or she (not giving a thing away here!) said this before the Calatrava-designed museum opened here, and it was the first time I'd heard someone take Calatrava to task in such strong terms.

So perhaps it should not surprise anyone that these years later the Calatrava-designed interior of the Milwaukee Art Museum would play an alient mothership on TV. That's right Calatrava "inspired" the interior of the hovering alien ship on ABC's new TV sci-fi drama "V," a fact confirmed today by my former colleague and current TV columnist at OnMilwaukee.com, Tim Cuprisin. (The link includes an image).

Steve Pearlman, of the series' executive producers, emailed Tim to say MAM's long gallerias, with the repeating, v-shaped arches, were in fact the inspiration. Since the show about an alien invasion aired last week, Milwaukeeans have been conjecturing about the design.

Interestingly, while I was away on vacation, architecture critic for the New York Times Nicolai Oursoussoff, used the "F-word" to describe this same architecture. He called it a "failure" worthy of making one shake one's fist when passing it by on a morning commute. And he did it in passing, with little explantion, within the confines of parantheses, as if it were accepted fact.

I have been pretty honest about my own love-hate relationship with the MAM building. After taking on the architecture beat, one of my firt columns was about the dichotomy in Calatrava's design. I suggested MAM's long hallways could serve as the set for a "Logan's Run" remake. Personally, I find the Venus flytrap-like wings much more wacky than the interior.

So, what do you make of these jabs at Calatrava, either or both?

About Mary Louise Schumacher

Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. She writes about culture, design, the urban landscape and Milwaukee's creative community. Art City is her award-winning cultural page and a community of more than 20 contributing writers and artists. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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